The Making Of The Boss Box

Coming Soon!

2011-01-12T14:17:00.000-08:00

This project is long delayed but not forgotten. It will get done.
For now the ideas flow, the music collection grows, and the parts come together.
I've finished my Bartop Arcade Project, and now just wait on the items to sell.
And my new Donkey Kong Junior project is just about complete also (no Blog exists).

Shortly I plan on indexing my music collection online in the event of a HDD failure. As of late I've become very paranoid I'm going to lose my collection.

Rock-Ola

2010-05-31T17:50:00.000-07:00

So along with the new direction of The Boss Box comes along a Rock-Ola wall box.
A wall mounted jukebox that I was able to pick up for FREE! (Thanks to Nick V over @ CGCC) Not much online about these with respects to modification, however I've decided that mine will play host to an LCD monitor. Uncle T's software has the ability to support dual monitors. So my intention is to set this up somewhere in the basement in a different location then the jukebox itself. It would be used for the sole purpose of playing the videos.

I've got the machine completely broken down as of now. I've painted the back in a Hi-Gloss black and I've began to polish the chrome using Mothers Chrome Polish.
It's coming together pretty well.

The Concept

2010-05-31T17:43:00.000-07:00

Over at the Build Your Own Arcade Controls forum I saw this awesome jukebox built by dmworking247. His thread can be found here : http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php?topic=99666.0

Right when I saw this I knew I wanted to emulate this for my jukebox.
My jukebox however will have a 17" ELO CRT based touchscreen. So the unit itself
will be somewhat larger. I plan on decasing the PC and trying to reduce it's size as much as I can. The hard drive will remain external and contain all the music as well as videos. The plus with respects to that is I can take it with me anywhere.

Vintage Stereo

2010-05-31T17:39:00.000-07:00

The original idea for The Boss Box was to contain everything in a vintage console stereo. I found one for FREE on Kijiji and just paid $10 to have it delivered.
My bad, because I never got the measurements. In the end my 17" ELO monitor would not fit. At this point (on paper) the Jukebox took on many forms. In the end I decided something small (as small as I could make it while housing all the parts) would be the best idea.

Speakers

2009-12-08T08:54:00.000-08:00

I had a pair of existing 3 way speakers that dated back to my teens.
They were in my parents basement collecting dust, yet I was unable to part with them.
Good thing I didn't because I think they will be great for jukebox.
They were build with a 8" mid range woofer, 3" mid range tweeters, and 3" horns for the highs. I also wired them up using three way crossovers.

Current Skin

2009-07-14T05:41:00.000-07:00

I wanted a custom skin that would reflect my sense of style and be very eye catching for users. It took some time to pick fonts that worked and were clear at small sizes, but in the end I'm happy with the product.

Hardware & Software

2009-06-02T05:23:00.000-07:00

SPECS :

Dell Optiplex GX260 & Compaq EVO SFF Desktop $80
Intel Pentium4 2.2Ghz
512MB DDR RAM
40GB Hard Drive
CD Rom,Floppy Drive
2 Front USB Ports,2 USB Ports at Back
Intel Extreme Graphics 64Mb integrated Video
integrated Network & Sound
Internet Ready,Keyboard,Mice and Power Cable included
Win XP Pro installed,Windows COA Sticker is included
Perfectly working with 90 Days warranty

750 GB SATA Hard Disk Drive (to be cased and used as external)

Software : Uncle T's Jukebox v 3.23 with custom skin

EDIT - Picked up a 750GB SATA Hard Drive to install into the PC itself.
However the PC was IDE and not SATA. I ordered several adapters from Ebay hoping one would work. Of the four purchased none did! (All the sellers were asked prior if any issue would be caused due to the large size of the HDD)
Upon discovering that the HDD could not be used internally I decided I would simply case the HDD and use it as an external. Initially I didn't want to do that.
But as plans evolved for the jukebox and the idea of making it "portable" became the definitive plan it made more sense.

Good ol' Uncle T

2009-06-02T04:59:00.000-07:00

Over at www.cgcc.ca an opportunity came up to purchase some 17" ELO touch screen monitors for a good price. One member pointed out that something like this could be good for a Jukebox project. Over at another website, Build Your Own Arcade Controls I had seen a ton of information on/about similar projects.

Now for many of us the bulk of our music comes off of our computers. And many of us have a Jukebox (sorta) in the form of an IPOD or other MP3 player. Many of these items have great functionality and many means to get the music from there to existing stereos etc. For myself and my IPOD I have an FM transmitter, a docking station in my kitchen, and a set of RCA wires known as a "Y adapter." It allows me to plug the IPOD or any MP3 player for that matter in the "AUX" hook up in my stereo.

But the idea of this Jukebox was something that really "clicked" in my head. I want the ultimate man cave, the best I can afford anyway. And I've begun to collect items that will give me the desired look. Be it my Foosball table, 3 arcade games, Japanese slot machine, some wrestling memorabilia, etc. This Jukebox could be something really neat and fun to work on.

So with 2 touch screens now ordered from the good guys over at www.cgcc.ca I thought I would begin to source out the other needed elements. There are a ton of software options for a project like this. Some free, others pay, some touch screen, others not. Uncle T's seemed to be the best out there (that I found) and the price was good..........free ! %100 FREE ! No trial, no demo, no limits. %100 FREE

You can find Uncle T's here :
http://unclet.arcadecontrols.com/Jukebox/

And more info can be found on the BYOAC site here :
http://forum.arcadecontrols.com/index.php/board,22.0.html

The only thing I didn't like about Uncle T's at a glance is the skin. However it can be fully customized. Something I do plan on doing right away.

I want the look to be very clean, and I want the name of my Jukebox to appear on the top right. As of now this project is known as "The Boss Box." (But that can change)